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Tom McCall

Tom McCall, Oregon’s chief executive from 1967 to 1975, may go down in history as the state’s most productive governor. He was certainly the most interesting.

Nearly forty years after he left office and thirty years after his death, Oregon Governor Tom McCall remains one of the state’s most renowned political figures. He envisioned a quality of environment and life unique to Oregon, and he worked relentlessly to protect those values.

A longtime journalist, McCall understood story-telling. He knew how to convey an idea in ways people would understand and remember. He was good at theatrics. And he made things happen.

McCall’s bold achievements set a new standard for the rest of the nation: The Beach Bill and the Bottle Bill, the SB100 land-use law, the Willamette River cleanup and the reinvention of Portland’s waterfront — all of these emerged from the McCall years.

More than any other single person, Tom McCall helped shape the “Oregon” that we know today.

Resources

Books

Brent Walth, ‘Fire at Eden’s Gate: Tom McCall and the Oregon Story’

Tom Marsh, ‘To the Promised Land: A History Of Government and Politics In Oregon’